The Canadian and American raked in
the prize money as they won the 100m butterfly & 100m backstroke races, respectively,
on Saturday evening in Toronto.
Canada’s Maggie Mac Neil gave the
Toronto crowd something to cheer for on the final night of the FINA Swimming
World Cup as she became the third swimmer to break 55 seconds in the 100m
butterfly with a 54.78.
Mac Neil, who is only racing in this
stop of the FINA Swimming World Cup before she heads back to school at
Louisiana State University, out-raced Sweden’s Louise Hansson (55.02), who also
scored a best time to sit fourth on the all-time list. Those two have gone back
and forth the last few years in the short course realm after racing each other
in the US collegiate system as well as last year’s Short Course World
Championships.
“I’m really happy with my 100m fly on
the last day which was a challenge,” Mac Neil said. “The Olympics, World
Championships it was on the first day. It’s something I’m learning to manage.
I’m really happy with that but there’s always room for improvement.”
It was Canada’s lone win of the day
as the World Cup will head down south to Indianapolis next week. “It means so
much to have their support,” Mac Neil said. “It’s been great to have them all
cheering in the crowd.”
Mac Neil scored 58.5 points as the
overall women’s winner for the Toronto stop, while the men’s race was won by
Shaine Casas of the United States for scoring the same amount of points. Casas
won the 100m backstroke with a 48.84, the sixth fastest performance of all-time
as he is the third fastest man overall in the event. The time is also faster
than anyone has swum in a World Cup meet.
“Yes it’s great (to set a world cup
record),” Casas said. “You can't really be mad at first (place). Like I said yesterday, I just wanna swim
fast.
“Good time, great racing, I showed
out compared to last week so pretty excited about that. The time was a little
bit off, but I have one more chance, we’ll see how next week goes.”
Full Overall Swimming World Cup
Rankings
Triple Doubles in Play
Despite scoring the most points of
anyone in Toronto, Casas is still fifth on the overall points standings while
Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter is leading with 114.5 points in a tie with
USA’s Nic Fink (114.5).
On Sunday, both Carter and Fink had
to fight for their wins, with Carter winning the 50m butterfly (22.28) over
Chad Le Clos (22.45), and Fink winning the 200m breaststroke at 2:03.78 over
Caspar Corbeau (2:04.17).
“I was tired,” Fink said. “These guys
were coming after me. I tried to get my hands on the wall first, that was the
goal. I knew where they were and I knew
that they were going to come back pretty fast.
“I wasn’t feeling 100% so I’m happy
that I got a solid one under the belt. Definitely happy with the results here
and now it’s onto Indy.”
Carter has a chance for a hat trick
next week in Indianapolis as he could sweep three wins in the 50m freestyle,
backstroke, and butterfly.
“It was phenomenal,” Carter said.
“I’ve never been in a position like that before so looking forward to
challenging for that next week, one meet at a time one race at a time.”
Those two lead the overall points
standings with three days in Indianapolis left, as Matthew Sates (111), Chad Le
Clos (110.2), and Shaine Casas (107.4) are within striking distance of winning
the overall title. Fans in Indianapolis will get a chance to see who can best
manage their energy across the three days and who can get closest to the
existing world records as the lead will definitely switch hands over the next
few sessions.
On the women’s side, Beata Nelson
took the lead in the overall World Cup standings as she has 115.6 points with
Siobhan Haughey (112.9) currently in second and Beryl Gastaldello (105.3) in
third.
Nelson scored an impressive double,
winning the 200m backstroke at 2:00.50, turning under world record pace at 100
meters, before putting up the 22nd fastest time in history.
“I really wanted to push it tonight
in this great field of ladies,” Nelson said. “I am really happy with this one.
We have another stop (in Indianapolis) so I was racing to be competitive and to
enjoy this experience. If I swim faster than the world record, that’s great,
but I am just here to enjoy the process.”
Nelson closed the day with a win in
the 200m IM at 2:05.08 in a heat of seven Canadians. Nelson utilized her
stellar underwaters to win both her races as she has shown why she is one of
the best short course swimmers in the world. Nelson has a chance for a triple
crown next week to potentially win all three stops in the 100m backstroke, 200m
backstroke, and 200m IM.
“Today was a big one for me,” Nelson
said. “It’s always a choice if I do them both. Today was fun, was right off a
personal best in the 2 back and I think that might’ve been a personal best in
the IM. Just try to take the momentum with me. It’s been such a great first
world cup experience.
“I’m hoping the Americans can match
it next week. Indy is such a special pool. I have a lot of great meets there.
Hopefully, it can match this.” Nelson will have the benefit of a familiar pool
next week as she goes for the overall title in Indianapolis.
The aforementioned Haughey was
successful in winning the 100m freestyle at 51.33 in a tight race with France’s
Gastaldello (51.67). Haughey has successfully won the 100m and 200m freestyles
in both Berlin and Toronto as she will go for the triple-double next week in
the United States. The 100m freestyle time is not the best for Haughey but it
was the 57th fastest time in the event.
“Yeah I’m pleased,” Haughey said. “A
little tired right now, so I’m glad I could finish off the last event of the
night in a pretty decent time. Tomorrow’s my birthday so I really want to end
24 with a good win and I’m really happy with it.
“I think it’s important to learn how
to compete when you’re still tired. Your physical state matters a lot but also
mentally you have to train yourself to be tough and keep going even when you’re
tired.”
Both Matthew Sates and Ruta Meilutyte
will have a chance for a hat trick next week as they both were repeat winners
in Toronto. Sates started the day winning the 400m IM at 4:02.65, while
Meilutyte held off Lilly King to win the 50m breaststroke at 28.96 to King’s
29.20.
“It’s been a while since I did three
consecutive competitions every weekend in a row,” Meilutyte said, who initially
retired in 2019 but returned in late 2021. “I’m excited to finish off this
tour. Never been to Indianapolis so it’s going to be interesting.”
Sates got close to winning the 200m
freestyle, but he was beaten to the wall by USA’s Brooks Curry (1:42.32), while
Sates was fourth at 1:42.46.
Egypt’s Marwan El Kamash also won the
men’s 800m freestyle with a 7:45.09.
Written by Andy Ross, FINA
Correspondent
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